La Jollan Julio Manuel Alcantar, 23, was fatally shot in Los Angeles on Oct. 1, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.

The victim, his brother, Edgardo, and a friend were in the Hyde Park neighborhood around 9 p.m., when a suspect approached the men and opened fire on them, said Los Angeles police homicide investigator Refugio Garza. All three men were wounded, and Alcantar died from a chest wound about half an hour after reaching the hospital. The other two victims remain in serious condition.

Investigators do not have a description of the shooter. While the neighborhood is known for street gangs, no information was provided as to whether any of the victims were associated with a gang, and no motive was given for the assault.

KPBS signal now loud and clear

Local listeners of KPBS 89.5 FM will now receive a stronger, clearer radio signal, thanks to the relocation of its transmitter from Mt. San Miguel in East County to Mt. Soledad in La Jolla. The move, which has been in the works for nearly two decades, became official after several months of construction.

“The Mt. Soledad location has always offered a way for KPBS to provide quality news and information programs to thousands more in our community,” said KPBS general manager Tom Karlo. “We’ve demonstrated that KPBS can deliver breaking and ongoing coverage of major events in this community — be it wildfire, earthquake or tragedy. Moving our transmitter to Mt. Soledad means that KPBS will have the ability to reach an even larger audience when it is needed most.”

La Jolla listeners who previously tuned into 89.1 can now access the KPBS radio signal at 89.5 FM or online at www.kpbs.org.

Grant paves way for Scripps Health tech advancements

The Qualcomm Foundation rec-ently awarded Scripps Health with a $3.75 million grant to further advance the development of breakthrough digital technologies in medicine. Funds from the grant will go toward running clinical trials of cutting-edge wireless biosensor systems, creating rapid pharmacogenomic diagnostic tests that can be administered in retail stores, and developing apps and embedded sensors to track and predict heart attacks, Type 1 diabetes and certain types of cancer.

“The support from the Qualcomm Foundation of our efforts at Scripps positions us to catalyze the future of digital medicine — a new form of health care that is remarkably precise, tailored to individual patients and designed to engage them in their own care,” said Eric Topol, Scripps Translational Sciences Institute director.

LJ Institute to maintain vast immune database

The National Institute of Health renewed a $22 million contract for La Jolla Institute to remain hosts and developers of the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB), a highly advanced research tool that serves as a critical component for research to design new and better vaccines against infectious diseases or treatments for autoimmune disorders.

The database is the world’s largest collection of scientific data on how the immune system responds to a wide range of diseases.

The seven-year contract renewal allows the institute to continue its role as stewards of the database and continue its vital research into designing new and better vaccines against infectious diseases.

For more information, visit www.iedb.org.

Donation to Scripps honors beloved son

Eileen and John “Jack” R. Anderson IV gave a $25 million donation to Scripps Health to help fund the construction of a new Scripps Clinic facility at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

To honor the Anderson’s generosity, the new 175,000-square-foot facility will be named the John R. Anderson V Medical Pavilion in honor of the couple’s son who passed away from cancer in 2004.

“We felt this donation would be an appropriate way to pay tribute to our son, John, and give others the opportunity to benefit from the medical expertise that our family has trusted over the past three decades,” said Jack Anderson. “John had a lot of things in common with Scripps — he was very smart, innovative and could fix just about anything.”

The medical office building and ambulatory care facility will house cardiology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, neurology, nephrology and endocrinology services at its state-of-the-art facility, which will begin construction in winter 2013.